I-35W bridge collapse

A little over a year ago, August 1, 2007, the I-35 W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River. The death of 13 citizens made the collapse even more devastating. A terrifying moment for the Twin Cities, the main priority that day was to try to rescue everyone, and later find the cause. This tragic event was a scary moment for me and my family, because we had relatives coming to our cabin that day across the I-35 bridge that same day. Thankfully they were OK, but ever since then I have wanted to know what made the huge bridge crumble into pieces. 

This article shares the design issues that investigators found when analyzing the bridge collapse. They discovered that the gusset plates, located in the center of the bridge failed to hold the 287-ton construction load crossing the bridge that day. Not only did this heavy load impact the collapse however; the constant heavy loads on the bridge daily were an issue, as well as the failure to calculate the thickness of the gusset plates. The gusset plates, only measuring 1/2 inch, should have been 1 inch, proving the designers did not perform the task of calculating the thickness. The investigators will share these findings to the Washington headquarters on Nov. 13, which will help determine the final report on preventing this problem in the future.

I hope the investigator's findings are correct, so there will never be this issue again in the future!

CAR CRASH

For my final blog, I found an article dealing with a horrible accident which happened here in the Twin Cities. Today on the news they had an extra on the car crash, so i decided to find more details from the Star Tribune.

Just this past New Years a young woman, by the name of Elizabeth R. Rhodes, (now married with the last name Jacobson) was apart of a fatal car accident on Highway 10, around 3:30 am. The victim's involved in the accident were Deputy Sheriff Joseph Lopez and his wife, Maggie, who died in her husbands arms. Rhodes, who was overly drunk, was going the opposite direction on the highway, and collided head on with Lopez's squad car. Earlier in the evening, Elizabeth and her then boyfriend were found by the police at their apartment, after a neighbor complained, and were told to cool down. By the time the officer who had visited Rhodes caught up to her car, it was too late. Recently, Rhodes went to the stand, and quote "entered Alford pleas to charges of criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation." This means that the defended agrees their is enough evidence to arrest her, but she does not plead guilty. 

What a horrific story! Obviously Rhodes to me is in fault for the accident, but i'm sure she never intended to hurt anybody that night. In the real world however, that doesn't mean all that much if you intended to do something or not. Rhode's judgement was impaired, but that does not make her choice to drive while intoxicated ok. I think her choice to enter Alford pleas is stupid, with the evidence that the prosecuter has, but at the same time she has a family who she wants to be with and not in jail. The death of Maggie lopez is terrible and I hope that the Lopez family is doing better!

Petter's Scandal

For my fourth blog, I decided to go a different route than what I have been doing in the past. After hearing a lot of rumors dealing with the Petters Co. fraud, I wanted to see for myself what was up! The article, Petters' cronies plead guilty in fraud scheme, is from the Star Tribune website. 

In this article, Petters' business partners confess their involvement in the investment scheme; Petters' business, for over 12 years, created false documents to fool investors into funding fake merchandise. The company gathered over $3 billion from fraudulent loans. The process included falsifying bank documents, purchase orders and invoices in order to convince lenders and investors to fund their business. The laundered money was used to keep the scheme alive, and pay large bonuses to the employees helping the clandestine business. But most of all, a large portion was in the hands of Petters, helping him live a lavished lifestyle. This week, a whistle blower, by the name of Deanna Coleman, uncovered and admitted to participating in the scandal, and offered to help investigators with Petters' case. She, as well as other partners who came forth, are looking at huge fines and many years in jail. Petters', at this point, is in jail, and could be sentenced to life. 

I am amazed that this scandal lasted so long! It's crazy to think that Petters' got away with 12 years of fraud, and made so much dough! No one gets away with something like this though, it always comes and bites you in the butt! Yet the way the company totally made up merchandise, and the lenders didn't even think to look into it is SO strange to me! How long would the scandal have continued if it hadn't been for Deanna Coleman? She, to me, is somewhat of a hero. I know she committed a very large crime but to have the guts to confess, knowing she was screwed in the situation, shows she is a strong woman. I hope Petters' gets what he deserves, and way to go Coleman!!